Month: December 2016

Hidden Fear (1957) John Payne plays an archetypal B-Movie detective, whose ugly American bullying rides roughshod over the Danish police who suspect his sister of murder. André de Toth, shooting on location in the New Wave style, captures the bleak post WWII black market of seedy Amsterdam. I no longer remember any of you Perhaps … More Hidden Fear (1957)

Hijack Highway [aka Gas-Oil] (1955) Jean Gabin stars as a working-class trucker suspected of running over a man in the road. Gilles Grangier’s quasi-documentary focuses more on the daily grind of manual labor hauling goods and maintenance of trucks than on the heist that violently opens the movie. This film marks the beginning of the … More Hijack Highway (1955)

The King of the Zombies (1941) Monogram Pictures cranked out this concoction of espionage and zombie genres. Dick Purcell, not Dick Powell, plays a pilot who crashes on an island run by Dr. Miklos Sangre, played by Henry Victor, not Bella Lugosi, for whom the part was originally written. Everybody in the cast seems … More The King of the Zombies

The Fountainhead (1949) From the novel and screenplay adaptation by Ayn Rand, King Vidor directs Gary Cooper, as the ruthless architect Howard Roark [modeled on Frank Lloyd Wright] and Patricia O’Neal as the devoted socialite Dominique Francon in this allegory celebrating unbridled capitalism in the struggle between individualism and collectivism. During the final courtroom sequence, … More The Fountainhead (1949)

HOMAGE TO STAN FREBERG (1961) A documentary about the American advertiser whose satirical take on American culture led to the famous Capitol Record Stan Freberg Presents the United States of America, still presciently relevant today. And if there weren’t a documentary like this, there ought to be. I would sell anything If I could … More HOMAGE TO STAN FREBERG (1961)